President caravans (Kurri Kurri, NSW)

Photos of a President caravan seen at Junee on the way back from the Vintage Caravan Nationals in May 2012:







The setup of this van seems to confirm Franklin1's suggestion above that President vans were mainly built for commercial purposes. This one looks as if it has been set up for mobile catering at some point. Notice the top hinged section on the off side.

President Van for sale Tasmania 6/2017 on gumtree

G'day Murray,

Unfortunately we don't know very much at all about President Caravans, apart from the fact that they were built in Kurri Kurri, NSW, and they look quite a bit like the Carapark commercial vans.

I've got a bit of a theory, but it's all sheer speculation. It's based on the fact that when the Carapark company came to its end, it was broken up into bits, some of which were bought up by various people in the former Carapark empire. My theory is that someone bought the rights to the Carapark commercial vans and started building them as Presidents in Kurri Kurri. As I said the Presidents look a lot like the Caraparks - shape, construction, wheel arch shape, and also compare the shape and style of the President name plate on the van shown at the top of this thread with the ones used on the Carapark toaster vans. And then there's the fact that Kurri Kurri is not a lot of kms from Mayfield where Carapark started...

You can see where I'm going, but I've got no idea whether I'm close to the truth or manufacturing a total furphy!

Don Ricardo

more photos of President van in Tassie

Does this link work

Hi all,

As best as we have surmised, President caravans emerged from the Carapark empire when various components of the latter were closed down or sold off in the mid-1960's. It has been suggested that President Caravan Coy Ltd was set up by some former Carapark managers or workers who acquired the rights to build the 'toaster' caravans.

Whether or not that is the case, President did not last very long. This advert placed in the Sydney Morning Herald on Saturday, 8 November 1969 (page 20) indicates that President had ceased business and an auction was to be held on Monday, 24 November for its assets:


(Source: www.newspapers.com )

Don Ricardo

Hi Kenny,

That's a really interesting photo you've posted which I've copied to here:



The information we have on President caravans presented higher up this thread is largely based on surmise and rumour, ie that when Carapark caravans was wound up, some ex-employees purchased the designs and equipment and began to produce President branded vans in Kurri Kurri based on the old Carapark models. Up until now the only President vans we've seen are in what we call the 'toaster' style, and seem to have been built for commercial use.

Your photo, however, suggests a whole new possibility, and that is that President also built holiday vans in a non-toaster style, which is a revelation. The van in the carport in the photo is clearly not a 'toaster', and appears instead to be similar to a Carapark Voyager, which was one of Carapark's last models before winding up. The van in the carport has the same front profile as a Voyager, including the 'lean forward' styling, although it doesn't have full width front windows.

But another aspect which is of interest comes to light if you compare the President signage on the front of the van in the carport with the signage on this Carapark Voyager:



You'll note that the signage is exactly the same style with 'President' replacing 'Carapark' and an additional section above the main brandname for the model name. The President model may not have been called 'Voyager' but whatever it was, the signage was copied.

For reference here is a photo of the front of the above Carapark Voyager, showing how similar it is to the carport President, apart from the front windows:




There are more photos of the Carapark here.

Don Ricardo

I wonder if this is a President too?  (looks like what the City Council used to use as Crew Rooms while providing community maintenance).